


A Semblance of Reality

by Xanadian



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Dadko, F/M, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Sad, Warning: This is Sad!, Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Parent, mai is the best mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29678412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xanadian/pseuds/Xanadian
Summary: Sometimes, only the semblance of reality is enough.
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	A Semblance of Reality

Three soft knocks on the door meant his daughter had decided it was time to interrupt him.

‘Are you busy, dad?’

‘No, my turtleduck, come in,’ Zuko pushed back the towering piles of paper he had been poring over since dawn almost. Dissolving borders needed his utmost attention.

A three-foot-high beacon of Zuko’s impulsive energy and Mai’s cunning stealth, Izumi sped into the room but her feet barely made a single sound on the floor before she had zoomed into her father’s arms.

He smiled, lifting her into his lap. The top of her hair was done differently than the braids Zuko would give her each morning. Today it was a messy heap of hair with some indications of clips and ties inside it.

He couldn’t complain. Azula had graciously agreed to help with Izumi’s morning routine these past few days while he had been busy, despite the fact that child-rearing was way, way out of Azula’s league.

‘I made two drawings of the dress I want to wear for my birthday,’ she beamed lifting two sheets of paper at him.

Zuko winced mentally at the writings on the back of the paper. He needed to make sure his documents were out of reach of his aggressively creative daughter.

‘They’re both so pretty ‘zumi,’ he cooed, observing the dresses on each sheet. One was blue with a lot of ruffles and another was purple and very, very long with full sleeves.

Izumi squirmed in his lap in excitement as she took him through every detail of her dresses (some weren't even on paper, just in her very active imagination). Zuko's chin rested on her head, as he smiled fondly down at her, trying to keep up. 

He wished he could match his daughter’s energy but he couldn’t help how tired he felt. Each year around the time of Izumi’s birthday he felt himself grow a little tired-er, a little weaker.

‘But I can’t decide which one I like better,’ she whined dramatically. ‘I wanna ask mom.’

‘Now?’ Zuko looked wearily at the piles of paper in front of him.

‘Please, please, pleaseeeee sweet Firedad,’ her hands were wound tightly around his neck for emphasis.

Zuko chuckled. She had recently picked up _Firedad_ from somewhere and wouldn’t give it a rest.

‘Let’s go,’ he relented, standing up with his daughter perched in his arms.

It was a lot brighter outside than in his chamber and it took Zuko a second to focus on his sister’s face as they stepped outside.

‘Where are you guys going?’ Azula asked. She looked like she was out on her way to meet Ty Lee.

‘We’re going to ask mom which one of the dresses she likes better cause I can’t decide if the blue one is pretty or if I will look more beautiful in the purple looooooong dress because I want to look the prettiest at my –

Izumi’s voice droned in the background as Zuko sought the objects in the corridor to look away from his sister’s knowing glare.

‘You have to stop, Zuko,’

‘She's her mother, Azula,' he adjusted Izumi in his arms. ‘I can’t keep her away from her mom.’

‘Yeah well, I’m not only talking about Izumi,’ she muttered in annoyance. Her eyes drew down to Zuko’s chin where his scruffy beard was beginning to make a shadow on his face. He hadn't shaved or groomed in days, preferring to stay locked in his office as his daughter’s birthday drew closer.

‘I’ll be fine,’ he whispered, turning around and walking away.

* * *

They entered the little dome structure that sat in the middle of the Fire Nation royal garden. It looked almost like an igloo in the middle of a otherwise green and floral stretch.

Izumi was skipping ahead of him.

A small entrance in the back led them inside to a darkened tunnel that led into the inner dome. The music of the water was getting louder.

‘Fire it up, daddy!’ Izumi squealed excitedly.

Zuko lit a torch on the side of the wall with the tip of his finger and immediately the flame travelled along the wall lighting up torches that sat above the waterfalls that lined the curved inside of the dome. The place came alive as Izumi laughed in excitement.

Candles, letters, flowers – dried and fresh, objects, gifts, paintings and Izumi’s drawings littered the floor. All strewn around in a circle around the central stone podium upon which sat a bust of Mai. Underneath which, rested Mai herself.

Someone had visited earlier that morning. There were fresh Firelillies adorning her ear.

Zuko sat down on the floor, with Izumi making herself comfortable in his lap.

‘Hi, mom!’ Izumi smiled, lifting up her two drawings. ‘Can you tell me which one you like better? It's for my birthday party and I can't pick.’

Zuko looked at Mai’s image. Of all the times he found himself here alone (which was too often for his own good), he sometimes just stood in the dark. The silhouette of the podium with Mai’s bust on it would trick his mind into thinking she was standing there herself. And he felt like it was them again, having their date in the catacombs.

‘Can you hear her dad?’ Izumi asked.

‘Yes,’ Zuko cleared his throat remembering Azula’s look of concern. ‘She says that she’s so happy to see you growing up so fast. You’re so smart now and she wants you to make your own decisions. Mom wants you to pick the one you like best. That will be her favourite.’

‘Noooo,’ Izumi whined. ‘I want to know which one she likes.’

‘Mai?’ Zuko looked up at the statue and Izumi followed his gaze in excitement. ‘Uh, huh. Uh huh.’ He said scrunching his brows with his eyes trained at Mai, he could tell Izumi's eyes were on the side of his face, waiting eagerly to receive the message.

‘Sorry, ‘zumi my little dragon, she says,’ Zuko mediated. ‘You need to pick it yourself. I believe in you.’

‘Okay,’ his daughter looked down at the sheets in despair. Azula was right. She was beginning to depend too much on her mother's advice and her approvals. She was getting older, he couldn't keep this up forever. 

‘I’m gonna come back tomorrow and see if you’ve changed your mind, mom. Or I’ll let dad pick for me and you know his choice is yucky,' she tried an underhanded tactic. 

‘Oh really?’ Zuko’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the unprovoked attack from his daughter. He tickled Izumi in retaliation, ‘Been spending too much time with aunt Azula, is it?’

She squealed in laughter fending off his hands. Her own hands were still so small compared to his, and yet so much bigger now than they had been once.

He trapped her in his arms and hugged her as she continued to laugh and squirm.

‘How old are you getting Princess Izumi?’ he sighed. 

‘Almost six!’ she yelled in excitement.

‘That’s too old!’ he groaned dramatically. ‘Can you stay little?’

‘No!’ she shouted in glee, freeing herself from him and running back out into the garden.

He heaved a contented sigh, getting up off the floor. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a letter for Mai, leaving it by her podium.

‘You sneaky brat,’ he shook his head. ‘You lied when you said it would get easier. It just gets harder.’

He kissed the tips of his fingers and pressed them to the cold stone of her lips.

‘And it doesn’t help that she’s exactly like you.' The words pulsed a dull ache in his chest.

He walked back to the entrance and snuffed the flame in the torch. ‘I’ll see you soon. Love you.’

He was about to duck into the tunnel when he noticed a faint glow from behind. All the torches should have gone out, but they hadn’t. One, at the far end, stayed lit.

He frowned, walking up to it to personally snuff it out. But before he could so as much, his eyes fell on a royal painted photograph that lay among many drawings that Izumi had left under this torch. He bent down taking it in his hands.

It was from Izumi’s first birthday. Mai and Zuko stood underneath a flower arch. Mai was holding the baby and clearly smiling through her pain because Izumi had caught a fistful of her hair in her hands.

Zuko rarely looked at himself in these pictures yet he couldn’t help but note how much younger he looked only five years ago. They had both only been children themselves.

He noticed then, that the dress that Izumi had worn for that birthday had been blue. It didn’t have ruffles, but it had the same long sleeves and flared long skirt that Izumi had drawn onto her purple dress.

Zuko snorted. For if he hadn’t, he might’ve choked on a tear.

‘You’re a genius, Mai.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry :/


End file.
